


Eight of Cups: Ann Smiley

by PegasusWrites



Category: LE CARRE John - Works, The Honourable Schoolboy - John Le Carré, Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy - All Media Types, Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy - John Le Carré
Genre: Adultery, Angst, Ann Smiley is my problematic fave, Ann is a bastard, Ann is up to her old tricks basically, Community: allbingo, F/M, George is a bastard, Heartbreak, and so is George, and you'll be able to understand it regardless of whether you've read that book or not, but like, it barely spoils anything, neither of them know how to love the other and it sucks, this takes place after Honourable Schoolboy
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-09-27
Updated: 2018-09-27
Packaged: 2019-07-18 19:34:52
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,000
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16125272
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/PegasusWrites/pseuds/PegasusWrites
Summary: Ann Smiley travels back to Bywater Steet after her most recent love affair comes to an unceremonious end.





	Eight of Cups: Ann Smiley

Julian left her like this:

They had their bags packed. Ann paid for the hotel and Julian nipped round the corner for the convertible. Only he never came back, and when Ann looked in her handbag for her compact mirror she found a note that said _sorry_.

She couldn’t blame him, not really. She couldn’t even ask for the convertible back because they’d bought it in his name. She left Julian’s bags with the porter, tipping him handsomely and hoping that Julian’s things would find their way to somebody who liked them if Julian himself didn’t come to reclaim them.

Then she hailed a taxi and drove to the train station, where she boarded a train and travelled disconsolately back to London.

*

She was surprised he hadn’t changed the locks, but then George never had gone in for that sort of drama. The house had a musty smell to it, and Ann had to push a heap of letters aside in order to get through the door. What was it George had said he was doing? She knew that the Circus had turfed him out for a second time, but where had he gone after that?

It really didn’t matter, she supposed. She only wanted a place to sleep, and at Bywater Street she was unlikely to be asked all sorts of bothersome questions. It rather suited her, in fact, that George was out of the house.

Or, at least that was what Ann told herself. Her resolve wavered a little when she woke in the middle of the night, cold and disorientated, and very alone. She crept across the landing from the guest bedroom to the master bedroom, and slid into the double bed. She curled up on George’s side of the bed, and slept soundly through the night.

She woke up the following morning with a strong desire to leave.

*

Ann did not leave. Instead, she threw on something nondescript and walked to a coffee shop on the Kings Road, where she ate a croissant for breakfast. When she returned a small brown car was parked at the bottom of their steps, and the house didn’t smell quite so unfamiliar.

The two of them didn’t know what to say to each other, when they met in the hall.

“I thought somebody had moved the post,” said George eventually. Ann folded her arms across her chest, as though she were cold.

“I would have brought you something from the shop,” she said. “Only, I didn’t know you were in.”

“That’s quite alright,” said George, and he turned his back to her.

 _So_ , thought Ann, _we are going about this as we always do_. They were going to slide back into being man and wife. Julian might not have happened, never mind the others. Did it make Ann angry? No, but then what right did she have to be angry with George? And really, when it came down to it she didn’t want to fight. Not when she was so very tired.

“How was your trip?” she asked him, and it all began again.

*

George had been out of the country. Switzerland? Or was it Germany? He started talking and she stopped listening. Then he stopped talking, and she couldn’t think of anything else to say. Eventually, she told him that she needed to take a bath, and made lunch arrangements with him as though he were a tiresome acquaintance she had bumped into in the street. She bathed until the tips of the fingers wrinkled then devoted the rest of the morning to choosing her clothes and styling her hair, to give herself something to do. Ann didn’t usually spend this much time getting ready, and when they finally left the house she felt overdressed and too made-up.

George wouldn’t choose the place, so Ann chose the place and she hated it, and by the looks of it so did George. He pulled at his tie and kept eyeing the door. Ann was piqued. _This could have been so much easie_ r, she thought, _if you had only told me what you wanted from the start_. But she said nothing.

“Will you be here for…?” George began, but then he broke off. _Ask me_ , Ann willed him. _Ask me if I mean to stay_. Of course, George did not ask her. He looked down at his plate, and a moment later he was picking at his salad. Ann lost her appetite and pushed her plate away.

They went home together. There was some momentary awkwardness in the hallway, as Ann was taking off her gloves and George had finished locking the front door. George turned, and both of them froze.

“Perhaps you would like to…?”  
“I should really freshen up.”

She had spoken over him. She had not meant to but she had still done it, and now he would not speak at all. Ann could have kicked herself. George cleared his throat, and started to shuffle out of his coat. Ann turned and fled upstairs.

She spent the rest of the day lying on her back in the guest room, staring up at the ceiling. Her bags were still at the foot of the bed. She had not bothered to unpack. She closed her eyes and she must have fallen asleep, because when she opened them the room was bathed in an orange light. The streetlamps had come on outside. Night had fallen.

Ann held her breath as she crept down the stairs and out of the front door. The house was quiet. She thought George must have decided to get an early night, though she could have sworn that she heard a sigh from inside his study as she tiptoed past the door.

On the pavement Ann turned to face the house. The streetlamps had dyed it a funny colour. _Sorry,_ she thought, feeling wretched. It would have been better if she had never come.

She carried her bags to the Kings Road, and hailed a taxi.

**Author's Note:**

> Thanks to [AreYouReady](https://archiveofourown.org/users/AreYouReady/pseuds/AreYouReady) for cheerleading, as always!
> 
> This story was written for [All Bingo's](https://allbingo.dreamwidth.org/) [1000 Words or Less Fest](https://allbingo.dreamwidth.org/113827.html). Find my bingo card [here](https://pegasuswrites.dreamwidth.org/14005.html).


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